International Journal of Open Educational Resources Table 2 . Which library resources do you use to find OER ( select all that apply )?
Faculty
Researcher / Scientist / Extension agent
Graduate student / Postdoc
Library catalog 12 2 19 OER web resources 12 1 16 Other 10 1 5
Didn ' t know the library has OER in the catalog
35 2 19
The overwhelming majority of respondents didn ' t know that the library has OER materials accessible through the library catalog ( Table 2 ). How do the UF Libraries solve this issue ? There are many options , such as arranging discipline-specific OER workshops , creating OER collections , or using faceted search options . The library catalog cannot compete with Google Scholar , so the onus falls on the libraries to develop an easy-to-use tool and a searchable catalog , which is easier said than done .
Challenges in Promoting OER Faculty Perspective
Introducing the use of OER into the curriculum is not without challenges . The positive aspects include free / reduced educational resources in multiple formats , but there are many underlying faculty concerns about OER . Aside from the lack of familiarity , most OERs are geared toward lower undergraduate levels in subjects such as physics , chemistry , and biology , so there may not be acceptable materials at the upper level , graduate , or niche disciplines . Another consideration is that in some institutions , any changes to the core curriculum need to be vetted by curriculum and faculty committees , which could take up to a year or more if approved , not including the time required to redesign entire sections of classes . Faculty also may be hesitant to adopt OER due to lack of time to properly evaluate the materials ' scope , coverage , and accuracy . Additionally , if faculty are using a textbook that they wrote , there could be some financial considerations ( i . e ., royalties ).
Library Perspective
It may be challenging to assess OER in the library collection from a library perspective , and given that some disciplines offer more OER , there could be an imbalance in core collections . Another challenge is discoverability in the library catalog . The MARC records may not offer call numbers or subject headings for broad categories . The big question is if the OER should be a separate collection that is easily identifiable or be blended in with the entire collection ? From a usability standpoint , the features and functionality of using an
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